Laverne Cox's "Sweet Transvestite" Is Pretty Damn Good!

While reaction to the latest Rocky Horror reboot has garnered everything from politicized criticism to cautious enthusiasm, the release of Laverne Cox's recording of the classic showtune "Sweet Transvestite" has many of us shivering with antici.... (wait for it) ... pation. (Apologies for the easy joke.)

Laverne's smoother, jazzier version of the track most famously sung by Tim Curry is like listening to Broadway's idea of punk rock by way of Grace Jones. Sassier, sexier, and certainly well-produced, the song stays rather faithful to the better-known filmic adaptation while taking some interesting risks as well:

Laverne had originally faced some criticism for taking on a role that confuses transgender and transsexual identities, but she addressed the critique a while back by giving her participation in the event a bit of perspective: “Historically, the terms have changed [and] it doesn’t mean the same thing today that it meant in the 70s,” she told Vanity Fair. “It’s not appropriate to refer to trans people as a transvestite [today], but it is [used here as] the character in that specific moment in history.”